THE
PRACTICE OF THE PRESENCE OF GOD
“Let us commit ourselves entirely to
Him, and banish everything else from our hearts and minds. He wants to be alone
there, so we should ask him for this grace. If we do what we can, we will soon
see the change we hope for in ourselves.”
Dear Ones-
Many of us were together for the Day of Recollection last weekend where we learned different methods of meditation and practiced them. One workshop focused on the Practice of the Presence of God. An overall thumbnail sketch of this method of praying without ceasing, and keeping Our Lord constantly present in one's heart was explored. The basics of this quest for realizing the perpetual presence of God in our hearts is based on 2 principles as outlined below:
1. Abandonment
to God’s Will: (AAA)
a.
Abandon oneself to God in faith, hope, and love
b. Act in child-like trust & dependence
c. Accept our life circumstances and being in harmony with all of God’s
creation:
2.
Loving Mindfulness of God
a.
Doing little things as they arise for love of God (The Little Way)
b.
Cast out all that does not pertain to God (The way of Nada”)
c.
Making an oratory of our hearts (The indwelling)
We know that remaining in the presence of God can be difficult amidst life's distractions. The question arises, how can we achieve this? One strategy used by Br. Lawrence can be summed up in the acronym CARMEL. Each letter stands for an important component of staying on God's presence and replacing our self-dialogue with constant communion with Him.
CARMEL
Confess
Admit sins
Renounce
all else
Meditate
on & Murmur arrow prayers
prayers to God continuously throughout the day
Eventual
contemplative prayer will be achieved
Love
& Union with God will become perpetual – a divine union
Our Carmelite saints have a strong tradition of pondering the Lord in their hearts "day and night" in loving imitation of Our Lady. I shared some of the ways in which this beautiful practice has uniquely manifested itself in so many of our Carmelite saints. This chart starts with our Blessed Mother on the bottom along with Elijah as our Carmelite foundation, and flows upward with the firm and prayerful example of St. Teresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross who reformed the order. It is to illustrate the dialectic nature of this type of prayer, and how we are to use the basics as outlined by Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection, but accept and know that God also determines the individualized means by which to teach us to dwell perpetually with Him within the sanctuary of our hearts.
Carmelite Foundational
History of the Practice of the Presence of God
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St.
Edith Stein: Practice of Presence through uniting suffering to that of Crucified
Christ in radical trust. “It is easier to have oneself nailed to the cross
with Christ, than to become a stammering babe with him.”
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Bl.
Candida of the Eucharist: Practicing the presence through Eucharistic
Adoration and then becoming a living host, or one who was united to Jesus in
the Eucharist perpetually in all daily activities of prayer, recreation, and
work.
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St.
Therese of Child Jesus: Little Way of love and child-like abandonment. "Miss
no single opportunity of making some small sacrifice, here by a smiling look,
there by a kindly word, always doing the smallest right and doing it all for
love.” May you be confident, knowing you are
a child of God. Let this presence settle into your bones and allow your soul
the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love. It is there for each and every
one of us.
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Bl. Elizabeth of the Trinity: Indwelling of the
Blessed Trinity thru words of St. Paul
& life of BVM who drew Trinity within herself. Wrote, “May the God who is
all love be your unchanging dwelling place, your cell, & your cloister in
the midst of the world. Remember that He dwells in the deepest center of your
soul as if in a sanctuary where He wants always to be loved to the point of
adoration.” She sought to “identify my soul with every movement of your
soul.” Her mission: “In heaven, I believe my mission will be that of drawing
souls into int. recollection, helping them go out of themselves, to cling to
God through a movement which is wholly simple & wholly loving; and to
preserve them in that great silence of the ‘within’, which allows God to imprint Himself on them & to transform them into
Himself.
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Brother Lawrence of
the Resurrection: Practicing the Presence of God based on 2
pillars: Abandonment of self-will to God & loving mindfulness.
To accomplish this we must cooperate, persist, and
persevere in faithfulness. “Let us commit ourselves to him, and banish
everything else from our hearts and minds. He wants to be alone there, so we
should ask him for this grace. If we do what we can, we will soon see the
change we hope for in ourselves.” AND
“We must never tire of doing little things for the love of God who considers
not the magnitude of the work, but the love. In the beginning, we must not be
surprised if we often fail, in the end, once the habit is formed, we will be
able to act without thinking about it and with great delight.” AND “I know
that to do this your heart must be empty of all other things b/c God desires
to possess it exclusively, and he cannot possess us exclusively without first
emptying it of everything other than himself.”
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St.
Teresa of Avila: Stressed humanity of Christ.
Focus on Him in discursive meditation/mental prayer, which leads to prayer of
quiet/recollection and eventually union. Saw prayer as ‘being on terms of
friendship with God frequently conversing in secret with him who, we know,
loves us.’ (Life 8:5) Describes presence of God within while representing
Christ within herself. “We need no wings to go in search of Him, but only
have to look upon Him within us.”
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St. John of the Cross: Practice
through ‘nada’ path. Remove all things that are not God in order to be united
with God. Die to world and self. Die to all sensory and spiritual goods in
order to realize union. “My soul is now divested, detached, alone &
withdrawn from all created things, both from above and..below; & it has
entered so deeply into interior recollection with you that none of them can
discern the intimate delight I now possess in You.. Since my soul stays so
far from them and abides in such profound delight with you
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BVM: “pondered
all things in her heart.” Drew the Holy Trinity to herself at the
Incarnation. Fruit of her womb: Emmanuel: God is with us
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Elijah: the
prophetical tradition of Carmel and is an inspiration to live in the presence
of God, seeking Him in solitude and silence with zeal for God’s glory. (OCDS
Const. I:5)
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One of our members took this beautiful picture in the Sanctuary of the Church that revealed the presence of Our Lord.
He is everywhere, and most especially in the Eucharist. This is the pinnacle of our faith and our starting point. We nurture his Eucharistic presence in our hearts, whether we receive Our Lord daily or each Sunday. Enjoy this inspirational video that speaks so beautifully of this reality. From the strength He imparts within, we ask the Holy Spirit to create a perpetual dwelling place for Him to reside. Amen.
